The present invention is related to awning apparatus for travel trailers, mobile homes, and the like. The present invention is more particularly related to improvements in canopy awnings of the type which include a spring loaded roller bar attached to one end of a sheet of canopy material, which sheet has the other end attached to a fixed canopy rail at the vehicle or other structure. Such a canopy awning is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,869.
Although prior art arrangements such as exemplified by the above-noted U.S. patent, provide for respective in-use and storage positions of the canopy, such prior art arrangements exhibit disadvantages with respect to complexity of construction, difficulty of operation and assembly, and minimization of wind caused billowing effects on the canopy when the vehicle is moved with the canopy in a storage position. The present invention contemplates various improvements for overcoming the above-noted disadvantages of the prior art arrangements. These improvements, operating alone, and in conjunction with one another, result in a simple, economical canopy construction that is easy to operate and assemble and which avoids wind billow effects during travel in a simple, economical, reliable manner.
A first improvement contemplated by the present invention relates to the holddown assembly for holding the roller bar in the storage canopy wind-up position. The present invention contemplates providing at least one saddle bracket member attachable to the vehicle structure, which saddle bracket includes a cradle portion for cradling the roller bar when in a storage position. The cradle portion and radially outwardly facing peripheral portions of the roller bar include respective interengageable detent means for automatically preventing relative rotation of the saddle bracket and the roller bar when the roller bar is cradled in the cradle portion. With this construction, billowing of the canopy means is positively limited because unwinding of the roller cannot take place. The simple construction of the interengaging detents on the cradle portion of the saddle bracket and the roller bar provides for a very economical and reliable construction. Further, this construction avoids the necessity of additional clamping means for the roller, since side arm members attached to the end of the roller for supporting it in the in-use position can be adjusted to effectively clamp the roller bar downwardly into the cradle portion when in the storage position.
Another improvement contemplated by the present invention relates to the arrangement for supporting the roller bar in the in-use canopy extended position. More specifically, the present invention contemplates the inclusion of at least one side arm member having one end thereof attached to an end of the roller bar means and the other end thereof engageable with either the ground or the vehicle structure so as to support the roller bar in the vertical direction. Although it is generally known to support the roller bar by side arm members engaging the ends of the roller bar, for example see the above-noted U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,869, the present invention further contemplates the combination with such support of at least one rafter arm member engageable at the vehicle structure and at the roller member, wherein the rafter arm member engages the roller member at a position spaced from the ends thereof so as to provide additional points of support, with consequent reduction in the tendency of the roller bar to sag, especially when loaded such as when it is raining or the like. By engaging the roller member at a position several feet from the ends thereof, the rafter arm members provide a much firmer support than would be the case if the rafter members engaged the ends of the roller member. A particularly preferred embodiment of the invention includes a side arm at each of the opposite ends of the roller and a pair of rafter arm members engageable intermediate the ends of the roller member with a resultant four point support of the roller member. To accommodate the simple transformation of the canopy between canopy in-use and canopy storage positions, the rafter arm members are pivotally attached at a U-bracket adjacent the saddle brackets so that they can be easily moved from the in-use position and pivoted to be in alignment with the side arm members for storage purposes.
A further improvement of the present invention relates to the provision of a bottom bracket attached to the vehicle below the saddle and U-brackets, which bottom bracket detachably supports the lower ends of the respective side arm members and rafter arm members when in the stored position. For this purpose, the bottom bracket includes a socket for engaging a ball end portion of the rafter arm member, which ball arm member also is slidably engaged in a slot of the roller member when in the in-use canopy position.
Another improvement of the present invention relates to the construction of the roller bar itself, so as to accommodate ready exchange of the canopy fabric without any disassembly of the roller bar. This improvement includes the provision of end caps for the roller bar which are removable to accommodate exchange and/or repair of the wind-up springs in the roller bar, which end caps are provided with slots, said slots being aligned with corresponding slots in the periphery of the roller bar for accommodating installation and removal of canopy fabric by the mere insertion and/or extraction of a canopy bead into the aligned slots in a direction parallel to the axis of rotation of the roller bar.
In particularly preferred embodiments of the invention, a main canopy slot is provided in the roller bar for the main canopy, which main canopy is also attached at the vehicle. An additional canopy slot is provided in the roller bar circumferentially spaced from the main canopy slot for accommodating a visor canopy which hangs downwardly when the canopy is in an in-use position with the main canopy extending with a slight inclination downwardly from the vehicle in the outwardly direction.